


A Quiet Thursday Afternoon

by Vorta_Scholar



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Babies, Children, F/M, Kid Fic, Trektober, Trektober 2020, Weyoun 6 lives, caring for a child, trektober2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26772979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorta_Scholar/pseuds/Vorta_Scholar
Summary: While having a tea party with her children, Keiko O'Brien hears a noise in the corridor outside her quarters. Looking out, she sees Weyoun playing on the floor with his and Ezri's baby, and she invites them inside.
Relationships: Ezri Dax/Weyoun 6, Keiko O'Brien/Miles O'Brien
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	A Quiet Thursday Afternoon

**Author's Note:**

> For Trektober 2020, Day 2
> 
> Prompt: Caring for a child

It was a quiet Thursday afternoon, and Keiko O’Brien was sitting on the floor with her children having a tea party after a fairly quiet day working in the station's budding arboretum. Molly passed her a napkin with a shortbread cookie on it.

“Thank you, Molly,” she said, smiling.

Molly smiled back, before passing a second cookie and napkin to Yoshi.

“Do you want to pour the tea, or should I?” Keiko asked.

“I’ll do it,” Molly said.

She was almost eleven, after all. Keiko sometimes found herself astonished at how fast her children were growing, and how time seemed to fly by right before her eyes.

She was pulled away from this thought, however, when she heard a strange, monotonous droning sort of sound, interrupted briefly with muffled bouts of laughter.

“Hold on,” Keiko said, setting her cookie and teacup down and standing up.

She went to the door of their quarters and peered outside. In the hallway, lying on the floor, she saw Weyoun, and in front of him, his and Ezri’s baby.

“Weyoun?” Keiko said, looking at him.

“Hello, Mrs. O’Brien,” Weyoun said, smiling.

The baby gurgled, humming a short snippet of the same monotonous tone she’d heard before and bouncing rhythmically. Keiko realized it must have been some kind of song, but whether it was some alien tune she didn’t recognize, or the baby was imitating her father’s toneless rendition of it, she couldn’t tell. The baby stopped then, and laughed, and so did her father, who sat up now and pulled the baby into his lap.

“What are you doing out here?” Keiko asked.

“Lena can only sleep if she feels or hears Dax,” he said quite simply, as if that explained any part of this situation.

“Okay,” Keiko said slowly. “So what are you and Lena doing out in the hallway?”

“Ezri hasn’t been getting much sleep, so Lena and I decided to give her some quiet time to rest,” he said.

Keiko nodded. “Okay,” she said again. “And...you came out to the hallway to do that?”

“Is our presence in the corridor bothering you?” he asked, seemingly genuinely concerned.

“No. It just,” she sighed. “It just doesn’t seem like the most appealing spot to spend time with a baby.”

“She doesn’t like the noise of the Promenade, and Odo doesn’t let me bring her into his office. And I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to take her into Quark’s,” Weyoun said.

“No, probably not,” Keiko said. “Do you…do you want to come inside? I’m sure Molly and Yoshi would love to see her, and it might be more comfortable for both of you in here.”

“Comfort is not—” He stopped himself. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “I would love to.”

Keiko smiled brightly and came over to hold the baby while he stood up. Lena was very small compared to any baby Keiko had ever held, only about two-thirds the size of a human child of the same age, but she looked healthy and chubby and happy, as any other baby would be. Some of her spots were starting to come in, sprinkled across her forehead, and there were a few more on her ears, faint but just visible.

“She won’t have very many until she’s at least a year old,” Weyoun said, noticing Keiko staring. “That’s what Ezri says anyway, though it may take longer because of...well, _me_.” He took the baby carefully from her, and Keiko looked at him, somewhat embarrassed. “And we think she’ll grow into the ears.”

The baby looked at Keiko, her eyes wide, and she smiled. Keiko smiled back and waved before looking again at Weyoun.

“I’m sorry for staring,” Keiko said softly. “I didn’t mean…”

“Perfectly fine,” Weyoun said, smiling brightly.

They headed into the O’Briens’ quarters.

“Hello,” Weyoun said.

Molly looked up at him. “Hi,” she said, and went back to playing.

“Hi,” Yoshi repeated without looking up at all.

Molly did a double take. “Oh, you brought baby Lena,” Molly said, getting up excitedly. “Can I see her?”

“Of course,” Weyoun said, gesturing for her to come and sit next to them.

Yoshi followed his sister, and came to stand directly in front of them to look at the baby which was lying against Weyoun’s chest.

“How old is she?” Molly asked.

“She’s going to be five months old in two weeks,” Weyoun said.

“She’s tiny,” Molly said. “Yoshi wasn’t that tiny. Except when he was born.”

“Molly,” Keiko whispered.

“It’s alright, Mrs. O’Brien,” Weyoun said. “She’s curious.” To Molly, he said, “Lena is very small, I suppose, because my people tend to be somewhat small, and because her mother is also a bit small, at least for a Trill.”

“Oh,” Molly said, nodding. “She has pretty spots. Like Miss Ezri, and Miss Jadzia. But...not as many spots.”

“She might get more later,” he said. “Trill aren’t born with any spots. Did you know that?”

Molly shook her head.

Weyoun smiled.

“They get them later, and they usually have most of them by the time they’re a year old, but sometimes they continue to get more throughout their life,” he said.

“Does she look more like Trill babies or like Vorta babies?” Molly asked.

Weyoun’s smile fell. “You know,” he said slowly, looking at her again, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen a Vorta baby.”

“Never?” she asked. “Not even when you were a baby?”

“I was never a baby,” Weyoun said. “At least, not that I can remember.”

Molly looked at her mom, who shrugged, with an amused sort of look on her face.

“I was a baby,” Molly said.

Weyoun chuckled. “Were you?” he asked.

“Yeah, about ten years ago,” she said. “Yoshi was a baby four years ago.”

“My,” Weyoun said. “I think you’re both older than I am.”

“That’s a story,” Yoshi said.

“Maybe, but lots of stories are true,” Weyoun said. “I was born in a much different way than you were, or than your sister or your mommy were, or even than Lena was. You see…” He stopped talking, noticing Keiko’s anxiety at where this discussion seemed to be leading. “Well,” he said after a moment. “That’s a different story, one that your mommy will probably want to tell you later. But what’s important is that I’m a copy of a man who lived a long time ago. He was a grownup, so I am also a grownup.”

“Oh, okay,” Yoshi said as though he understood, and immediately changed subjects. “Is baby Lena gonna get a worm like her mom?”

Weyoun’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know,” he said. “I assume that will be her choice to make when she’s older, or maybe the Trill government’s choice. But according to Dr. Bashir, her body is capable of one day carrying a... _worm_.”

“Neat,” Yoshi said.

“It’s called a _symbiont_ , Yoshi,” Molly whispered to her brother. “I think _worm_ might be rude.”

“Oh, okay,” he nodded.

Lena twisted and wriggled some against her father’s chest, wanting to look at the children whose voices she heard.

“Oh, what a curious young lady,” Weyoun cooed, turning her around and helping her sit up on his lap with her back against his stomach. “Go ahead. Look around.”

She looked at her dad, then at Yoshi, smiling as she reached out a small hand in his direction and kicked her feet excitedly.

“Yes, that’s Kirayoshi,” Weyoun said.

“I think she likes you, Yoshi,” Keiko said.

“Hi, Lena,” Yoshi said, reaching toward her hand.

She grabbed at his hand and held onto two of his fingers, still smiling a wide, toothless grin which made Yoshi giggle.

“Hi, Lena,” Molly said softly, leaning closer to the baby, who looked at her abruptly, her bluish violet eyes widening in surprise and seeming to glow faintly, similar to the way Weyoun’s did under certain lighting.

“She’s a very alert little one,” Keiko said.

“Yes,” Weyoun said, looking at Lena and smiling so hard Keiko thought it must have hurt. “Dr. Bashir assures us her eyesight is very good.” He looked at Keiko. “Which makes me very happy because mine is so bad. She gets to see things so clearly. The universe must be truly magnificent for her to behold.”

“Everything is so new to her,” Keiko said. “She’s probably fascinated by everything she sees.”

“She certainly seems to be,” Weyoun said.

“It feels like only yesterday that my babies were that small,” she said wistfully. “Almost makes me want to have another one. But I don’t think Miles would be up for that.”

“No?” Weyoun said. “I’d love to have half a dozen of them.”

“Alright, but we may have to talk to Julian about seeing if _you_ can carry a few of those,” a voice said from near the entryway.

Looking up, they saw Ezri standing there, smiling.

“Darling, good morning,” Weyoun said. “Did you sleep well?”

“Wonderfully. Thank you,” she said, and she came over to get the baby from him. “Oh, hello, sweetheart.”

Lena held tightly to the front of her mother’s shirt and made a happy squealing sort of noise, which made Ezri and Keiko laugh. Weyoun jumped at the noise, but smiled nevertheless.

“Did you and Daddy have a good day?” Ezri asked.

Lena gurgled happily.

“Good,” Ezri giggled. “I’m glad to hear it.” She looked at Weyoun. “What about you? Did you have fun?”

“A wonderful time,” he said.

“Didn’t get into too much trouble?” she teased.

“Not without you,” he said.

“You two,” Keiko teased, smiling as she placed a hand on Ezri’s shoulder.

“What can I say? We’re very happy,” Ezri said.

Weyoun smiled, looking at Ezri and their child. “That we are.”


End file.
